Hn
by Ichigo to Hana
Summary: Sesshomaru isn't exactly what you'd call communicative. The white dog demon is more the type to silently take what he wants instead of asking for it. However there is one little human, who understands him perfectly fine. And her name is Rin.
1. Chapter 1

**15**

 **Hana:** Hey Ichego, are you still working on those technical difficulties with the last shot?

 **Ichigo** : *sigh* Sadly yes. I have no idea what happened, all I know is that nothing works out as it was planned.

 **Hana** : Same here. Your Internet seems to have infected mine. It didn't work at all yesterday. *sigh*

 **Ichigo** : I'm sorry… Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?

 **Hana** : Nah, just glad it finally works again. So, what are we up to today?

 **Ichigo** : Let's see. We have quite a lot to make up. How about a new story including the Inuyasha-Gang?

 **Hana** : Oh great! *hops up and down* I always wondered, how Rin and Sesshomaru got along with him talking so much *coughs*

 **Ichigo** : He's talking like a waterfall - a frozen one.

 **Hana** : Nice simile. Sesshomaru is as quiet as a frozen river. Well, let's see… I don't own Inuyasha and I would like to say, that today's riddle is extraordinarily hard.

 **Ichigo** : Well, I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to solve it ^^ Have fun reading and if you know the solution to Hana's riddle, send us a PM so no one can cheat.

 **Hn**

Rin opened her doe eyes to the light of a new day. It was her eleventh birthday. Three summers had passed by since the defeat of Naraku and her Lord had left her in the human village to live among them in peace. Three years of learning everything about herbs and healing from Kaede. Three years of sparring with Inuyasha and Sango, so Rin was able to defend herself against attackers.

Rin stretched: _I wonder, if Sesshomaru-sama will remember my birthday… He is so busy with keeping his lands save._ The girl smiled at herself. "Stupid Rin, of course he will remember it. He never missed your birthday before." Actually it wasn't Rin's day of birth, but the day Sesshomaru had saved her life with his sword Tenseiga – so to speak her second birth. If you kept that on, the girl could celebrate her birthday three times a year, if she remembered her first date of birth. Her second was the day Sesshomaru saved her and the third as Sesshomaru's mother had resurrected her after she had sent her to hell.

Rin shook her head. _Away with these thoughts! Today is a day of joy and not a day to remember all the times you nearly died or returned from the dead._ She decided to finally get up, after she had stared at the far wall of the small hut for some time. Rin tamed her hair into her usual side ponytail.

"Rin?", a raspy voice asked mere seconds before Kaede came into the second small room of her hut. "Ah, you're already awake child."

"Yes, yes.", Rin chanted. "Do you know what today is Kaede-baa-chan?" The old woman scratched her chin in thought. "Today? Oh I know: Today you wanted to help me with the dried herbs and promised to look after Haku. He'll be glad you remembered him and his bad leg. Don't be late."

And with that the elderly woman left the room. Rin blinked in shock. _Did Kaede-baa-chan honestly forget my birthday? But we talked about it only yesterday… She isn't that old to be forgetting things within a nights sleep!_ Quickly Rin ran after her adoptive grand mother.

* * *

Everyone in the village seemed to have forgotten her birthday, as they didn't say anything about it, merely greeting her and wishing her a good morning. _How could they all have forgotten? They never forgot anyone's birthday… Never ever._ Rin nearly cried until she recalled, that she was now eleven summers old and wasn't supposed to cry about trivial things as this. _I have to be strong. Sure Miroku and Sango will remember. At last Sango and Miroku will remember, right. Right?_

* * *

Rin jogged along towards the hut of the demon slayer and monk. On the way Rin suddenly found herself locked into a set of strong arms. "Surprise", a familiar voice purred close to her ear. "How do you escape this?"

"Inuyasha", Rin whined. "It's too early to be sparring."

"It's never too early for an attacker to surprise you."

"You do realize a surprise is only a surprise, if your opponent doesn't know you're about to attack. And I do know you try to fight me every waking hour."

Inuyasha clucked his tongue. Rin could see his white puppy ears twitching about in his mass of silver hair that was similar to his half brother's Sesshomaru. "Don't you think, you're overestimating yourself a bit there? After all you are a mere mortal and I am a half demon."

"Kagome was able to tame you and Sesshomaru-sama is able to defeat you. Why shouldn't I be able to escape your claws?", Rin questioned him. The half demon growled in the back of his throat. Rin had learned to interpret these animalistic sounds over the last three years. By now she was able to distinguish between menacingly and show off ones. And this was one for the show. He didn't mean it at all. _Nevertheless: How do I escape his grasp?_ , Rin asked herself in wonder. _Irritate your enemy and he will loose focus. Then you are sure to win._ , Sango's voice echoed in her head. The demon slayer had been persistent about that lesson, as Rin still was a child and the demons thought of her as prey.

"Please spare my life, Inuyasha", Rin faked a sob. "I am only a little human girl. I promise to pay you more respect…" She hiccupped very authentically. Instantly she felt the hanyo backing up, still being uneasy around crying females. Rin seized her chance. Diving out of Inuyasha's arms, she spun around, pulling her dagger in the process and held it against his throat. With a flicker of her wrist the weapon cut the air inches from his flesh. "You're dead", Rin told him. "You cheated!", Inuyasha accused her. However Rin changed back from warrior mode to the innocent girl. "Cheat? Me?", she gave him a sweet smile. "You know, I'd never do this. I am incapable of it."

"Sure you aren't", a new voice laughed. "My dear little Rin is too innocent for that." Inuyasha and Rin turned towards the new voice. It was a woman around nineteen. She had twin girls on each side of her and the kimono only barely covered her bloated stomach. The brown hair was held in a high ponytail with a pink ribbon. "Sango", Rin skipped towards her adoptive mother. "Do you know, what today is?"

Sango tilted her head in thought, chewing on her lower lip, as if it helped her to concentrate. "I don't know… I think it could be the day, Inuyasha and Miroku are bound to do another exorcism and shouldn't be too late" Sango yelled the last part over her shoulder back into the hut. A muffled groan was the only answer they could hear from Miroku. "Better prepare for a long run, Inuyasha", Sango petted her friend's shoulder. "He isn't going to come out on his own anytime soon."

The half demon huffed and entered the hut with as much noise as possible. Rin giggled. _Inuyasha is always so… I don't know how to put it. He's so different from my Lord. Sesshomaru-sama is always calm and collected, while Inuyasha shouts and fights with the ones he cares about – oh right!_ Rin lunged forward to catch up to Sango. The older woman looked down at her with a warm smile. "Do you need anything Rin?"

"Do you really don't remember, what today is?"

Sango watched Rin for a second, before she answered. "You have grown so much during the past three years" It took the young girl a moment to realise, what that meant. As it finally clicked in her head, Rin jumped up and down in excitement: "So you did know!"

"How could any of us forget your birthday? You reminded us every day.", Rin pouted, "Besides, we would have known anyway. Who could forget the day the cold demon Lord found out he had a heart?" The twins hopped alongside Rin, laughing in childish joy with the girl they saw as their older sister. "Can we show Rin her present, Okaa-san?", one of them asked, causing the other to echo: "Can we, can we?"

Sango laughed at her two little girls. They may look like her but their character was sure to be Miroku's in some ways. Shippo already had to beware of those girls wandering hands on his ears and tail. Although their father of course said, they hadn't got that from him. Yeah right, and cows could fly.

* * *

Sango eventually allowed the twins to lead Rin towards her present. The two and a half year olds each grabbed one of Rin's hands and guided her through the village with Sango trailing behind them. "We found it few days ago. Okaa-san took out to play in woods, while collected wood.", the twin on Rin's right side explained excitedly. "We thought would be a good present for Rin-chan.", the left twin added proudly. _I wonder, if I was the same, when I was their age…_ , Rin thought to herself. _Probably not. I always was a strange child, being all quiet and introverted. I still am different from the others due to my travels with my Lord._

Suddenly the twins shoved the older girl in front of them. Rin staggered a bit, as she hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking, but she didn't fall. Instead the girl gasped at the sight in front of her. It was a clearing in the middle of the wild forest covered in flowers of every colour you could imagine. "Amazing", Rin whispered. The twins giggled, accepting the thank you and praise in one word easily. "Come on girls, let's go get some fire wood and let Rin enjoy her present.", Sango stretched one of her hands out towards the girls. Both of them hopped over to their mother, grabbing her hand. "We'll pick you up on the way back, okay Rin?" However Rin was too focused on waving her way through the field of flowers and braiding crowns to answer Sango. The woman chuckled, ushering her children on to leave Rin in peace to braid.

* * *

Rin lost track of time, as she sat in the middle of the clearing and braided flower crown after flower crown. "One for Inuyasha, one for Miroku, one for Shippo, one for Sango, one for each of the twins, one for me", Rin counted. "The last one is for Lord Sesshomaru."

"Rin", a male voice said. The girl looked up to see a man with long silver hair standing between the trees. His indifferent golden eyes stared at her – and right into her soul it seemed. "Lord Sesshomaru!", Rin exclaimed happily. "You did remember after all!"

"Hn"

Rin giggled. It was his standard answer to any question the dog demon didn't want to respond to directly or if he thought, his answer was unnecessarily clear. Rin was an expert when it came to Sesshomaru's ways of communication with a minimum of words. She was most likely the only person alive, who was able to read his answers out of this single word and his body language. Currently he was expressing, how he never would forget Rin's birthday. It made Rin so happy, she could have cried, but refrained from it, as she was a big girl now.

And so Rin sat in the middle of the flower field and told Sesshomaru the story of how they had met until the sunlight faded and Sango came looking for her to come back into the village.

* * *

 **Riddle** : What is not certain?  
Hint 1: The solution can be found in a book with a vampire lizard. (I don't own this book)  
Hint 2: It's neither Shakespeare nor Goethe or Schiller, but the answer has to be given in German.  
Hint 3: The riddle is about someone named Hans.

Please solve the riddle via a PM so no one can cheat.

 _Also check out the other short stories we have uploaded so far. In order:_

 _1 The Lord of the kitchen_

 _2 The tale of the handsome commander_

 _3 Miroku's wish list_

 _4 Dream beaches_

 _5 How to not freeze to death_

 _6 Surprise surprise_

 _7 I'm going into town, Tomoe_

 _8 No one ever calls me to simply drink coffee_

 _9 Tigers and Badminton_

 _10 Geography with Myoga_

 _11 Preparations_

 _12 The other way to fight_

 _13 Meeting Tomoe_

 _14 That's not an emergency, Foaly_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

 _Sorry for the long wait, I honestly don't know what happened… Anyway, here is a new chapter of Hn. Have fun with the upcoming fluff ^^_

 **CHAPTER 2**

Rin watched with rapt fascination the unfolding scene in front of her. Three years. It had been three years since she had seen the girl in her foreign clothes and even stranger supplies last. And now she was back in the village. Inuyasha had sensed her scent from miles away. No one had been able to stop him. Since then three days had passed.

And ever since Kagome and Inuyasha were inseparable, stealing glances at each other and holding hands. The girl knew of the affection her Lord's half brother and the reincarnation of the mighty Kikyo shared, however Rin didn't quite get the reason for this change in behaviour. Inuyasha was far less moody than he had been in the past, everyone could see the half demon was more than happy to have Kagome back.

Rin passed the borders of the village towards the forest. _I wonder, if Kaede-baa-chan will explain their behaviour to me, or if this is another thing 'to be discussed in the future'… I'd like to know, why Inuyasha is so happy and Kagome-chan seems to literally glow with him near her. Is this another thing she brought back from her home?_

While dwelling on her thoughts, Rin's fingers quickly picked flowers while walking by and braided them to a crown just long enough to wind around her head. She put the crown on her head and continued in her walk towards the forest. To her clearing. Ever since the twins showed it to her on her birthday, Rin would wander there to think, relax and wait for her personal visitor.

* * *

As Rin arrived at the clearing she took a seat in the middle of the flowers. It was late summer, meaning soon the leaves would fall, then snow would cover them until they could free themselves again in spring. Rin wanted to enjoy the time she had left with braiding flowers.

 _"_ _In the mountain_

 _In the forest_

 _In the wind_

 _In a dream_

 _Where are you Sesshoumaru-sama?_

 _With an ally like Jaken?_

 _Rin. Oh? Ha! Sesshoumaru-sama!_

 _We're going. Let's go. Ok!_

 _I will wait alone until you come!_

 _Sesshoumaru-sama, please return"_

It was the song she used to hum to herself while travelling the country with her Lord and hunting for Naraku. "Sesshomaru-sama, please return", she mumbled to herself, as she pulled forth her birthday present she had received half a season ago. It was a pair of identically crafted tessen, fans for warfare. Sesshomaru had taught her the basic skills as soon as she'd received them. After that Sango had tried to train Rin to use them with precision. Emphasis on 'try'. Rin was still at the basics, seeing as she had only received them so shortly before.

 _My Lord is very generous to give these weapons to Rin and ensure she is trained enough to defend herself against attacking demons. Maybe, one day, he'll allow me to travel with him once again. Then at least I am prepared to protect myself better against demons. Then I won't be a burden any longer._

Deciding, that if she had the fans already with her and her Lord was still absent, Rin got to her feet to train for a while.

* * *

 _"_ _Control your breathing. Keep it slow and steady.", Sango's voice echoed in her head. "Balance on your footpads so you can move quicker. Feel the connection with the earth beneath you."_

* * *

I'm _really trying._ , Rin thought, as she stood in the middle of the clearing, keeping her weight on the front of her feet in a wider stance than any modest woman would dare. She breathed in through the nose and out of the mouth, concentrating on uncoiling every muscle she wouldn't need for the first movements.

With a sound of rustling metal and thick fabric the tessen opened. Even now in the glittering sunlight the fighting dog depicted on each of the fans was nearly unrecognisable due to the dark metal the tessen were crafted out of. The image was nearly invisible, if one didn't pay attention, but Rin had seen it on first sight. She loved to think of these dogs as her guardians in battle. Although these weapons had not seen any battle with her yet... _Concentrate!_ , Rin chastised herself as she felt her mind wander. _Stay in the present._

Swinging her hands she flapped the fans open and closed a few times to get used to the feeling of the extra weight in her hands. She then proceeded to simple cuts by opening the tessen at the same time at different locations in theory cutting her enemy or at least blocking his strikes against her. After practising it while standing a few times the young girl began moving around the clearing with these basic cuts, differing their height and the force behind the swings. Rin was so caught up in her training session, she heard the noises only, as a tree branch snapped a few steps off the clearing. On instinct she whirled around, her tessen ready at her sides. "Who is there?", she called out. But no one answered. "Show yourself!", Rin demanded. No one answered but this time a thin dagger was thrown at her.

A few years back Rin would have screamed and simply ducked, but with the training she had received with and without the set of tessen, she ducked her body away from the flying weapon while bringing the closed left tessen up and punching the dagger out of her way. It fell on the ground with a thump, skidding a few inches farther away from Rin. "Who is there?", she demanded again, slight anger making her voice tremble. At least for show the girl seemed unafraid. "Good", said a smooth voice and a figure emerged from the shadows. "This one sees young Rin has trained well."

"Sesshomaru-sama!", Rin shouted as the tall figure of the Inuyokai stepped forward into the sunlight. "I knew you would come master, it's been so long. Is everyone well?" He gave her a small smile, merely a slight upturn of his lips no one else would have caught, but Rin knew her Lord. She returned the smile with all her joy shining in her eyes. Sesshomaru settled against his tree, one knee upturned to rest his arm upon it. "Show me what you've worked on lately.", he told her. Excitedly Rin nodded her head, stumbling back into the middle of the clearing to present Sesshomaru what she had learned since his last visit.

* * *

But as it turned out Rin could not quite concentrate when she felt the intense stare of the yokai in her back, wherever she moved. So the girl ended up falling over her own two feet, nearly cutting her hair off with the sharp metal ends of her fans. _Oh Kami, why does this have to happen when he is watching? This is so embarrassing…_

"Rin", Sesshomaru interrupted her thoughts. "Hai?", Rin whirled around, somehow getting the tessen back under her control. "Has the taijia trained you every day as I ordered?", there was no emotion visible on his noble face. "Yes she has, Rin even trained on her own in the afternoon each and every day.", she bowed slightly. "I don't know what is wrong now…" Sesshomaru looked her over once more, before turning his gaze away from her. She was clearly dismissed, so Rin closed her fans and tugged them away safely within her kimono. _Sesshomaru-sama doesn't seem to mind my failure today. He only made sure I trained. What does this mean?_ , Rin wondered. However she was still Rin and therefore didn't stick with such thoughts for long. Instead she switched to telling her master everything that happened in the village since his last visit.

"And then one day Inuyasha ran off into the forest, only to return with Kagome-chan. Everyone was so happy to see her again after three years, the twins, who had only heard stories about her, instantly questioned her about any- and everything. Sango-san and Miroku-sama were barely able to reign them back in.", Rin giggled at the memory of a disgruntled Sango, loading one of the girl into her arms, while Miroku tugged the other one away from the hanyo and his friend. "The only thing I don't understand is, why Inuyasha has changed so much ever since Kagome-chan came back. He seems to be more at peace than in the last three years…"

"He has found his mate", Sesshomaru mumbled more to himself than to her, but the girl heard it nevertheless. "Mate?", she tilted her head in curiosity. "What is a mate?" The look flashed quickly through his amber gaze, but Rin knew what it meant: He hadn't wanted her to hear him – or more precisely – regretted saying those last words out loud. _Is a mate that bad? Why would he not want to explain it to me? Sesshomaru-sama explains everything to me. Either he or Kaede-baa-chan. Maybe now Kagome-chan will explain too…_

"You are too young to understand the concept of mates.", Sesshomaru simply answered her. Now Rin pouted: "I am older than when we were travelling during the time of the shattered jewel. I understand almost everything and I am tired of everyone telling me I am too young." Stubbornly she crossed her arms over her chest. Seeing the humorous glint that had entered the eyes of her Lord didn't help to lighten her mood. But then he did something unexpected. Sesshomaru actually complied with her request and explained the meaning of 'mates' to her. "Mates are like two halves of a whole. Like dagger and sheath. They belong together and are only whole with one another."

"So Sesshomaru-sama, Jaken, Ah-Un and Rin are mates?"

He didn't answer but Rin didn't mind, she was hopping around the clearing. _So Inuyasha has found his other half again. No wonder he is happy. I am so happy for them too._

Then a thought struck her mind and the girl stopped her little dance of happiness to turn back to the Inuyokai. "Lord Sesshomaru?", she took one hesitate step towards him. "Yes, Rin", he looked at her. "Would you be as happy, if Rin returned to you after such a long separation?", she wanted to know, her doe eyes enlightened with innocent curiosity. Sesshomaru blinked at her, the only indication of his surprise about her sudden question. Rin watched her guardian intently as she waited for his answer. Sesshomaru's golden eyes turned hard as he stared off into the distance. A moment later they softened again. It took all of Rin's patience not to interrupt his train of thought, even though she knew he didn't like to be interrupted in his brooding.

Finally his eyes signalled his return to the present, even though they fit perfectly into the mask of indifference the yokai wore. At least an unknowing onlooker could think so. Rin however still saw the warm gleam in the depths of them, carefully hidden away from the outside world, as he only said one word: "Hn." A bright smile appeared on her face, as she spun around laughing. _He would miss me, if I were gone and be happy once he had me back!_


End file.
